Four new partners have been appointed to the Greater Manchester Housing First (GMHF) pilot following an exhaustive selection stage.
After a formal competitive tendering process, four new delivery organisations that have the required values and expertise to deliver have been selected and will be joining the GMHF partnership in January 2021.
These four organisations are:
| ZONE/TRANCHE OPPORTUNITY | APPOINTED ORGANISATION |
| Zone A (Manchester): gender informed/specific service providing expertise in working with women. | Manchester Action on Street Health (MASH) |
| Zone B (Bolton; Bury; Rochdale): gender informed/specific service with expertise in engaging and working with younger people (18 – 25). | Early Break |
| Offender support service with expertise in engaging and working with current and ex-offenders. | Community-Led Initiatives (CLI) |
| Zone D (Wigan; Trafford; Salford): complex behaviour management specialist service. | Humankind |
The existing GMHF partners are:
- Riverside
- Jigsaw
- Stockport Homes Group
- Petrus
- Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust
- The Bond Board
- Great Places (Lead Partner)
In designing the pilot, GMHF says there was always the intention to add new partners in order to facilitate responsive commissioning to emerging cohort needs and to build capacity locally.
Programme lead Emily Cole said: “We are delighted to be able to welcome our new partners into the pilot.
“From the outset, we planned to scale up and use the learning from the initial stages of the pilot to ensure we were meeting the emerging needs of people being referred to the programme and increase the breadth of expertise within our partnership.
“Each of the organisations joining the pilot has demonstrated the values and expertise to deliver the specific services we require in each of the zones across Greater Manchester, and we are excited to be able to scale up and work with the new partners.
“The pilot is making a huge difference across Greater Manchester, and we are at an exciting stage to be able to meet our aims and ambitions and drive system change.”
The Greater Manchester Housing First pilot was commissioned by Mayor Andy Burnham and the Greater Manchester Combined Authoity.
Launching in 2019, the pilot is a £7.6m project tasked to rehouse 330 people during its three-year lifespan.
It was one of three pilots launched nationally, alongside similar projects in West Midlands and Liverpool, to test the Housing First methodology at scale.
Additionally, Housing First builds upon the existing Social Impact Bond (SIB), which has so far secured independent living spaces for 223 of the city-region’s previously most entrenched rough sleepers.
The new partners will officially join the Greater Manchester Housing First pilot in January 2021.
About Housing First
Housing First is an evidence-based approach, which uses housing as a platform to enable individuals with multiple and complex needs to begin recovery and move away from homelessness.
The Housing First approach was first developed by Pathways to Housing in New York in the early 1990s.
It has since been adopted in several major cities in the United States as well as in countries including Denmark, France, and Finland.
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